Women's Rights in 99 Nations

Women's Rights in 99 Nations

Whether you're talking about Bangladeshi women or American professional women, they all work a double day," asserts Sharon L. Camp, vice president of the Population Crisis Committee (PCC) and editor of a recent, worldwide women's rights study conducted by the PCC. The purpose of this special study, according to Camp, was to assemble facts and figures from around the globe that would graphically illustrate the extreme rigor of a woman's life particularly in the poorer countries of the world, as well as specify factors contributing to the continued tendency in most countries to classify woman in general as "second-class" citizens.

The study's findings were sobering. As might be expected, the richer countries were found to provide a greater measure of equality in their general treatment of women. Yet, it was discovered world wide that working mothers maintain, in addition to their job, the primary responsibility for the care of their children and also head most single-parent households. Other of the study's statistics revealed that women grow half of the world's food, but rarely own land, And although women make up one-third of the world's paid labor force, they continue to hold the lowest-paying jobs.

The report evaluated women's status in the five categories of health, marriage and children, education, employment and social equality. The ratings were based on a possible total of 20 points per division and 100 points overall.

No country had a perfect score, but Sweden came closest with 87 percent. The Muslim nations were clustered near the very bottom of the list, with Bangladesh finishing a distant last. Generally speaking, North American and European countries ranked high, with African, Middle Eastern and South Asian countries rating lowest. China and Sri Lanka scored much better than other relatively poor countries, but India was graded "very poor" - and Nepal, the world's only Hindu Kingdom, was even lower.

The study appears to suffer from some cultural bias in favor of western values. Additionally, the study charts the absolute, not the relative, rights of women. For example, while it is true women work long hours at low pay and own little land in Bangladesh, it is relevant that the men there are in a similar position.